


tell your radio host to stop being so cute

by etoileyoongi



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Background Relationships, Established Relationship, Fluff, Fluff and Crack, Huang Ren Jun & Lee Donghyuck | Haechan Are Best Friends, M/M, This is cute, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, no angst just soft boys in love, renjun my angel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-15
Updated: 2020-12-15
Packaged: 2021-03-11 03:26:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,104
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28098390
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/etoileyoongi/pseuds/etoileyoongi
Summary: “And then another email from imasamoyed@nctu.com titled -,” Donghyuck ruffles dramatically through the printouts he’s holding, which is both unimpressive and completely uncalled for, since Renjun is well aware it’s the one at the top of the pile, “ ‘How to tell my crush who is also a radio host to stop being so cute while he’s on-air’. He even added a smiley face”. He sounds kind of impressed.Renjun lets out a surprised snort, because there have been a lot of weird subject lines coming from this one specific email in the past few months, but it seems like the sender might’ve hit a new low.Donghyuck sighs. “This is the third one in two weeks. Maybe we should tell Jeno we know it’s him. It’s honestly getting kind of embarrassing”.
Relationships: (implied/mentioned), Huang Ren Jun/Lee Jeno, Lee Donghyuck | Haechan/Mark Lee
Comments: 23
Kudos: 283





	tell your radio host to stop being so cute

Renjun likes to think that, at the tender age of only twenty years old, he has gotten his life together quite well. Sure, he’s majoring in business instead of art (because that’s what his parents want him to do, because that’s the life they see for him, because after nights of screaming matches and silent treatments he just. agreed, resigned to it, didn’t think all the fights were worth it anymore), and sure, he lives in a shitty apartment on the fifth floor in a building without an elevator and a radiator that works like 3 days a year (in the summer, for god’s sake), and _sure_ , he is kind of surviving on instant noodles and coffee because he doesn’t know how to cook, and neither do any of his friends, and wow if they aren’t a bunch of incompetent adolescents is this what college is supposed to be like, but still.

In his second year of uni he decided to make art his minor and this time he _doesn’t_ back down when his father tells him to change it, and they don’t talk for almost a month, but 23 days later Renjun gets a message from him asking if he wants to go fishing together and he supposes that’s it. They don’t talk about it anymore, and Renjun gifts his mom a painting - one of his original pieces - for her birthday that spring.

The apartment sucks, of course it does, but he hangs onto the thought that it just elevates the whole ‘being a broke college student’ experience, and if he pouts hard enough he gets his boyfriend to haul the groceries up five flights of stairs and he just cuddles a little closer whenever the central heating decides to break down once again, for the sixth time that month (and like, same, but also can it not) because his boyfriend is nothing if not a heater on it’s own. The landlady is nice too, and she invites him over for dinner every Wednesday and she cooks him hot pot and pinches his cheeks, telling him how handsome he’s becoming and then, to the boy sitting next to him, what a lucky guy he is with such a catch.

So just maybe, he supposes he’s living what some might call the good life.

(He should still start working on his cooking skills though).

(...)

If Saturdays are for the boys, like Mark says (the gays, Donghyuck corrects him finely, before planting a kiss right on his lips and permanently damaging Renjun’s soul) and Sundays are for trying to reconcile the relationship with his parents during a brunch, then Thursday nights are for Renjun and Renjun alone.

And maybe Donghyuck and Jaemin and all the people listening to the late-night radio show he hosts as well. Whatever. Details.

He’s been doing this for over two years now, having gotten roped into by an older friend - Sicheng - whose only intention behind it was to find someone so _he_ didn’t have to spend his Thursdays cooped up in the stuffiest room their university could’ve possibly provided and could instead go home and watch anime with his boyfriend or something. 

So maybe the reason he landed this job wasn’t that fair and unbiased, because he literally just walked in at the time Sicheng told him to and got thrown a headset and script and the promise of $12 and hour and free coffee from the monstrosity that occupied the whole kitchenette counter in the corner of the room.

He likes it though, likes being able to talk without having to show his face - because he knows he has knowledge to share and things to say, but he doesn’t necessarily want to have to face people while doing so. Jeamin says it’s because he’s shy (and that it’s cute!), Donghyuck says it’s a persona so that people won’t see his true form as an absolute devil, but Donghyuck also uses the name Haechan and flutters his eyelashes and acts like a total angel in front of their hyungs so they’ll get him ice cream, so he isn’t one to talk. 

When he told his boyfriend about their theories the big oaf just laughed and told them they should come and see how not-so-shy Renjun is in their bedroom, and then he whined when he got - deservedly - punched in the arm.

But yeah, he likes his job, and the fact that he gets to work along his friends and they get to goof off and get paid for it. Well, him and Jaemin do. Donghyuck just showed up one day and demanded they’d give him something and accepted to get paid in chocolate bars (the ones out of the box that had apparently been sitting there since Halloween five years ago, Sicheng had once recounted. Renjun wisely decided that his friend could live without that piece of information). 

So now Donghyuck manages their emails and social media and every now and then, like twice a month, hosts his own show under the alias Haechan, where he talks about the newest gossip on campus and gushes about Mark and plays soft lofi music. He calls his listeners sunflowers and manages a whole separate instagram page where they can send in rumors, and Renjun isn’t sure why the principal hasn’t stepped in yet, but he suspects that he secretly listens to it so he knows about all the secret hide-outs. It might be a conflict of interest, but Donghyuck has told him not to worry about it as he cut off yet another piece of the cake an anonymous person sends him every month. It’s weird.

Renjun himself does something he likes to call ‘whatever the fuck he wants’. He recommends music and movies, things he likes, and talks to his listeners and sometimes he brings in books and reads out of them. He has invited guests a few times. Mark was nice, he brought his guitar and sang but then they had to mute his mic because Donghyuck pounced on him. Chenle and Jisung were hell, and Renjun honestly doesn’t know why he even entertained the idea, and even less why he actually went through with it. His favourite sweatshirt still reeks of ketchup. Hoverboards are now banned from the radio station. People keep calling in to request the two of them back on air.

It’s become a meme.

His most popular segment, however, is the one where he reads emails people have sent in and talks about them, gives them advice, shares a bit about his own life and views and experiences. It’s funny, crazy at times, but it’s also always genuine and considerate. He likes the feel of helping people, even if it’s in really subtle ways. Likes that they take the time to write him and share their stories and the way they seem to trust him, somehow. He likes to go over each of them individually, respond to them even if he doesn’t do so on air.

There are some emails, however, sometimes, some nights, that are a little different. Tonight is one of those nights.

(...)

“And then another email from imasamoyed@nctu.com titled -,” Donghyuck ruffles dramatically through the printouts he’s holding, which is both unimpressive and completely uncalled for, since Renjun is well aware it’s the one at the top of the pile, “ ‘How to tell my crush who is also a radio host to stop being so cute while he’s on air’. He even added a smiley face”. He sounds kind of impressed.

Renjun lets out a surprised snort, because there have been a lot of weird subject lines coming from this one specific email in the past few months, but it seems like the sender might’ve hit a new low.

Donghyuck sighs. “This is the third one in two weeks. Maybe we should tell Jeno we know it’s him. It’s honestly getting kind of embarrassing”.

And Renjun nods, because, well, he can’t argue that. Jeno has been doing it for months now, under this secret alias that they all know is him because he literally called himself after the thing he resembles most and the way he writes, forgoing capitalizing and ranting about anything that comes to mind, and once, in an email, he talked about an anecdote literally no-one but their group of friends knows about (Mark had made them promise to never talk about it again. Donghyuck brings it up any chance he gets, when it’s just the seven of them). 

So yeah, maybe it’s kind of pathetic, but it’s also so _cute_. Jeno is (it’s a weird thought, kind of. Maybe not). The way he gushes over him is. It’s embarrassing and corny but Renjun can’t help but save all the emails in a special folder and read them when he feels self-conscious or too small, like he doesn’t take up any space and everyone just looks past him. In times like those, the kind words help. He should thank him, some time. 

They should talk about it soon, though, because it _is_ getting out of hand - kind of problematic even - he thinks as he sends back a quick ‘thank you’ to his boyfriend wishing him good luck.

Food for thought, but he’s gonna have to eat this meal later (god, that was disgusting, Jaemin is rubbing off on him), because for now he takes one last gulp of his coffee, listens to the countdown and puts on his headphones.

“Good evening, everyone! Welcome back to renra on this beautiful evening. For tonight…”

(...)

When he comes home that night, it’s to a warmed up apartment - for once, at least - and the muted colours of a movie playing in the background and his boyfriend. He’s tired, and he’s irritated because there were technical problems halfway through and then Jaemin spilled his coffee over the scripts and Jeno just _won’t stop sending emails._

“You sent another email”. There isn’t any question in his voice, and Jeno - his boyfriend, his love, whatever. Jeno for now - looks up like a deer caught in headlights. It’s kind of cute, the way his eyes widen as if to prove his innocence and his lip juts out into a pout because he knows - the asshat _knows_ \- how weak Renjun gets from them. But it won’t work. Not this time. Renjun is strong.

Jeno reaches out, showing off those big brown, pleading eyes, making grabby hands for him and pulling him by his waist, onto the couch, until he’s falling into his lap, getting smothered by two strong arms. Renjun is weak.

He huffs, indignant, because this isn't how it was supposed to go. He was supposed to stay strong and tell Jeno to stop ‘anonymously’ sending in mails gushing about him because they all know it’s him and it makes him _shy_ and he’s quite sure Donghyuck is gonna go home and scream to Mark about how he _doesn’t_ send in stupid emails filled with love declarations. It _sucks_ and everything _sucks,_ and most of all his boyfriend.

But instead of having a mature conversation for once he’s getting cuddled and he’s starting to feel all warm and fuzzy and, oh- that’s a kiss right there, pressed to the back of his neck, and he can’t help but melt back into Jeno’s arms and has he mentioned how much his boyfriend _sucks_?

Because he does, Renjun thinks as he leans back and wrestles the phone out of Jeno’s hand, where the latter has opened his mail app and started typing ‘what to do when your baby is grumpy and cuddly at the same time’ into the subject line, because it’s not because he has lost this battle that Jeno has won the war, and he won’t allow another description of him on the couch and the way he is at home to ever get passed into Donghyuck’s hands. Not again.

His boyfriend sucks, Renjun thinks again as he melts further into the firm body holding them up, and they will resume this conversation first thing in the morning, but for now he allows himself to cuddle closer into the strong hold and close his eyes, barely noticing the soft kiss pressed into his hair.

(...)

**from:** imasamoyed@nctu.com

 **to:** renra@ncturadio.com

 **subject:** tell your radio host to stop being so cute (pt. 4)

renjun is sleeping right now and his face is squished and he’s pouting. this is it. i can’t take this anymore.

stop having such cute cheeks and pretty eyes and an adorable nose, renjun. i’m serious. i can’t concentrate on anything beside you & it’s getting annoying and you should be... cut for length

**Author's Note:**

> if you enjoyed please leave a kudo/comment with your thoughts! this is my first time writing the dreamies and it's also kind of a new writing style (i guess?? consistency we don't know her) so i'd like to hear some constructive criticism :^)


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